DERBY Playhouse's long suffering customers are in need of a belly laugh or two and Cal McCrystal is the man to provide the smiles, say the theatre's bosses.

The Playhouse will reopen on September 13 with The Killing of Sister George and Cal will be directing the show with a brief to make it as funny as possible.

"After all the theatre has been through, that's what we all need," says former chief executive Karen Hebden who has helped bring it back from the brink to stage its first show since Treasure Island closed on February 1.

And Cal should be the perfect man to deliver. He was, after all, at the helm of Loot, which was so funny at the Playhouse in 2003 that our theatre critic's jaw "was aching from laughter" over the "scandalously perfect" show.

"It's very exciting and a big responsibility as well," says Cal.

"Karen was very keen to open with a comedy and asked me if I had any in mind and I submitted a very short list and they liked this one.

"And this play is great. I know Derby will love it. I had a great time with Loot even though the play is quite dated. I mucked about with it quite a lot to get the effect I did. I did the same less successfully with Kafka's Dick. I guess I just didn't like that play. So Karen said this time 'you must pick something you like'. And this play is so good and strong I don't have to muck about with it."

Cal directed the early Mighty Boosh stage shows and has worked at Cirque du Soleil as a clown, a writer and director of comedy.

"Clowning is my starting point as a theatre director," he says. "But I'm not talking about white-faced circus clowns, more Buster Keaton-like.

"The clown is the core of who you are as a performer, that childish show-off in you. The part that thinks it's a great idea to get up on stage every day and have people looking at you. The simple, honest ego of the actor."

Written in 1965, The Killing of Sister George is about the star of a radio soap (which bears an intentional resemblance to the Archers) who is the darling of Britain but who is being killed off in order to modernise the series.

"If The Archers wasn't still around it might be a museum piece but the fact that it's still going makes it relevant," says Cal. "It's still front page of the tabloids every time they put a gay or Asian character in the series. So, even if you don't listen to it, you know the politics of the series.

"I was attracted by the all-female cast and it manages to be very poignant, tragic and, at one and the same time, you are laughing. It's my favourite kind of theatre to watch and create. It lets you fall in love with the characters and then watch them destroy themselves while all the time laughing because it's so English and ridiculous."

It was filmed 40 years ago starring Beryl Reid but Cal won't be using the movie as a template.

"I was talking to my costume designer who asked if we wanted to avoid doing it the way the film did," says Cal. "I said that I didn't want to avoid or copy the film just to do what's right whether it was the film way or not. My job is to make sure the world I create takes people into it and stops them thinking about the film."

Cal has had to wait in the wings while the Playhouse's future was decided and so is eager now finally to get going.

"I always believed that the obstacles were minor and that we would go ahead so I was just planning it with the luxury of not having to be too concerned with the ifs and buts.

"I was swept up with the optimism and I would have been very disappointed if it had not gone ahead. I chose this play myself and, when you set your heart on a play and start getting casting ideas you become very close to it. I'm delighted to be doing it for Derby."